Rachel and Alex had managed to convince themselves it was okay to chance the canteen for some breakfast as long as they found a private room before twelve noon. Both had been strongly motivated by the rumbling of their stomachs, despite the risk of somehow getting separated from one another, and one of them being challenged by a third party.

Alune Academy had a number of small private rooms for the benefit of familiars who already knew their place in the world. Being publicly humiliated by a challenge or being challenged in your own bedroom were unsurprisingly not fantastic prospects. This at least offered an amount of dignity, an understanding among the student populace that some kind of deal had been made behind closed doors- even if the deal was not later honoured by the magus of the pair.

The breakfast spread for orientation day was significantly more hearty than the ordinary service provided, and ran all the way up until challenging was allowed, at midday.

The two ate in giddy anticipation, unable to think of anything to talk about. The immensity of this day, of their situation, made everything else seem impossibly small. Alex tapped his foot nervously, and received a comforting rub of the arm from his soon-to-be Master.

They finished clearing their plates, preparing to find an appropriate room, when the ginger caught sight of a very groggy Riley, stumbling in to get some much needed tea. He (amazingly) noticed her too, and staggered over with all of the vigour of a senile necromancer, dark circles under his eyes to match.

“Riley- Gosh, did you stay up all night??” the Rachel stammered.

“Couldn’t sleep.” He neglected to mention the half dozen vivid nightmares he’d be subjected to. “Gonna eat. Good luck.” he was in such a haze that he didn’t even realise he’d just wished them luck on their pre-arranged ‘duel’.

The two shared a worried look, following their weary friend over to supervise his tea-making.

There was an eery buzz among the students on challenging day. Only the better part of an hour remained until the clocks struck noon, and the apprentices in their third year would be able to challenge each other to the Ritual of the Familiar.

Stronger students watched the clocks eagerly in anticipation. Weaker students hovered around aimlessly, not sure whether they should hide away elsewhere or make a bold move themselves.

Once you were challenged, that was it. No take-backs, no opting out. Once you won (or lost) the duel, you were bound to your duelling partner for life, either as the familiar, or the mage. Receiving a challenge from the wrong person could spell out your fate, either to lose to them and give up everything in service of your mage, or to win and end up with a mediocre familiar.

The Ritual would mould and shape your familiar into something you could use. Into a form that you desired. But it could only work with what it was provided with, it wasn’t a miracle piece of magic.

There was also the matter of magic. A mage gained their familiar’s magic, the unique strengths, the honed spells, the very mana itself. It became that of the mage.

An apprentice with unique or powerful magic was more valuable as a familiar. Unique magic also often meant a harder duel, but that would not dissuade everybody. The rewards were great, if you won.

Everyone in the room knew that no matter what, once they went into that arena, if they lost then their life as they knew it would be over. Even Alex was nervous to give up his freedom, despite the promises made by his loving girlfriend to take good care of him.

Riley unthinkingly stacked a half dozen slices of dry toast on top of one another. Being sleep deprived complicated even the most basic of tasks, and apparently feeding oneself required more critical thinking than Riley had anticipated. At least he hadn’t buttered both sides of his toast, not this time at least.

“Riley, what are we doing?” quizzed Alex.

“Breakfast.” He peered into his empty mug. “And definitely tea. Then I find Carenia.” he returned, dryly, whilst adding a second ladle of baked beans to his plate. He continued piling mushrooms, tomatoes, and fried onions higher and higher, until Alex notified him that the contents of his plate was, in fact, overflowing onto the floor. Oops.

The two sat at a table, as Rachel followed closely behind, Riley’s tea in hand. How she had come to be in possession of his previously empty mug was beyond Riley, but he gratefully accepted the gift by immediately downing the whole thing. Despite it being scalding hot, the pyromancer appeared completely unfazed. Pyromancy had its charms, after all.

“Haven made you a plan right?” Riley winced ever so slightly when Rachel mentioned Haven by name, still hurting from her shock disappearance.

“Carenia will be somewhere in the mess hall, and if not then she’ll be on her way to the large hall. I need to find her no more than 10 minutes early, and no less than 5 minutes early, to avoid unwanted attention. She can probably be bullied into a private room right before noon. Students looking for me will start by finding me here. I am almost definitely being watched by at least one of them right now.” Alex and Rachel looked around the room, while Riley stayed focussed on transporting his food directly into his gullet. “It doesn’t matter, as long as I stay here for now they will be distracted by other prospects.” he finished.

“Damn,” Alex stated, impressed, “you remembered all of that on how many hours of sleep?”

“None, I don’t think I had a single moment of restful sleep last night.” Not between the nightmares, he thought to himself.

“Okay, wow. Haven really did drill everything into you, huh.” quipped Rachel.

“Heh, yeah, I even know her plan.” the tea was finally working its way into Riley’s head, raising him from his quasi-passed out state. “She-”

Someone barrelled into the table, slamming their hands down with enough force to rattle Riley’s now empty mug. They gasped for breath. It was Sonia, one of Haven’s friends, and she’d just been in a full out sprint. “RILEYAREYOUSTILLLOOKINGFORCARENIA?” she blurted out at once.

Riley, flabbergasted, did not respond. Sonia recomposed herself, then translated:

“Riley.” She gulped in another huge breath of air. “Are you still looking for Carenia?”

“Wait, what, why? How did you-” Riley placed his hands gently on the young woman’s arms, conveying the urgency of this matter. “What’s happening?”

“Someone said she was on her way to the old hall!”

“Someone? Wait, the old hall? Why would she be going there- nobody goes there, and it’s half way across the school!” This wasn’t part of the plan.

“Look I don’t know, but it’s quarter past right now, if you want to get her alone you have to go now!”

Riley didn’t hear the protests of his friends as he stood up. He didn’t feel his boots hitting the hard stone as he ran to the old hall. He didn’t see the intricate design of the door as he yanked it open. He didn’t smell the musty air roll past him. He didn’t taste the bead of sweat that rolled down onto his lip.

His prey was going to escape him.

But his quarry wasn’t in the old hall. Apparently only Riley was. Had he arrived before she had? Had she already left? Was he in the wrong ‘old hall’?

Or was Sonia a dirty little liar?

He turned to storm out of the decrepit place, he still had time to get answers from Sonia and hunt Carenia down, he just had to be economical about it.

As he reached the ornate door, he heard a thunderous clang ring out. The sound of the clock striking noon. That couldn’t be right, he still had plenty of time!

Unless Sonia had given him the wrong time, too.

Shit.

This was a trap. Definitely a trap. Trap trap trap trap trap. His brain screamed that he had to get out and run right now.

He shoved the doors of the old hall open again, but didn’t even have time to step forwards before being stopped in his tracks.

“Riley Argarlius,” announced the cloaked figure standing in the hallway in front of him, “I challenge you, under the watchful eye of Sinslar and the sanctity of the Circle, to the Duel of the Binding of Souls. May the worthy mage win, and claim the other as Familiar.”

Everybody at Alune Academy knew those words by heart. They reverberated against the ancient walls behind Riley. The voice that had uttered them was striking and unmistakable, despite being warped by the immensity of the once-great hall. The words rang around Riley’s head. He had been officially challenged by this mystery intruder.

But Riley knew who it was.

The world stopped around him, as he stepped back, praying that this was a mental breakdown induced hallucination. His brain simply could not comprehend what had just happened- what was currently happening. What was going to happen to him.

His challenger threw off their cloak, revealing long swarthy hair, equally rich brown eyes, and a devilish grin. It was Haven. She stood in his path, feet spread wide and hands on her hips, exuding confidence and power.

Riley took another step back, tripping over a raised floor stone. He fell onto his back, unable to keep his eyes off of his once mentor. She advanced, taking his space. He slowly crawled away, attempting to formulate something to say to her.

But he couldn’t. Not with her eyes bearing down on him. He’d seen those eyes before. These weren’t the ones who were weary of him. They weren’t the respectful glances he had become accustomed to.

They were the same eyes he had seen last night in his bedroom.

He looked up at her, eyes widening in fear and realisation. And she loomed over him, staring hungrily at her prey.